Anti-mandate 'Freedom Convoy' said to be largest truck convoy ever

OTTAWA, Ontario (TND) — A convoy of trucks crossing Canada, protesting vaccine mandates for truckers, could be a world-record setter, but there are doubts about the actual size of the convoy.

The "Freedom Convoy" was reportedly organized to protest against the vaccine mandates put in place at the U.S.-Canada border, as well as mask mandates for truckers, which orders the drivers to wear masks in trucks.

A GoFundMe organized for the event has already passed $7 million in donations. Organizers explain the event's purpose on the GoFundMe page:

To our Fellow Canadians, the time for political over reach [sic] is over. Our current government is implementing rules and mandates that are destroying the foundation of our businesses, industries and livelihoods. Canadians have been integral to the fabric of humanity in many ways that have shaped the planet.

We are taking our fight to the doorsteps of our Federal Government and demanding that they cease all mandates against its people. Small businesses are being destroyed, homes are being destroyed, and people are being mistreated and denied fundamental necessities to survive. It's our duty as Canadians to put an end to this [sic] mandates.

We are asking for Donations to help with the costs of fuel first, and hopefully food and lodgings to help ease the pressures of this arduous task.

The convoy, which is leaving from British Columbia, hopes to make it to Canada's capital of Ottawa, Ontario by Saturday to stage the protest, according to the Toronto Sun. If the convoy makes it, it could be reportedly ten times larger than the world record, if claims are true.

"It’s 70 km (43.5 miles) long,” says Freedom Convoy 2022 spokesperson Benjamin Dichter to the Toronto Sun. “I have seen footage from an airplane. It’s impressive."

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the "largest parade of trucks" ever recorded was achieved by the Tahya Misr Fund in Cairo, Egypt on Nov. 20, 2020. The record-setting convoy was made up of 480 trucks and had a recorded length of 7.5 kilometers (4.7 miles).

Some estimate the "Freedom Convoy" has more than 50,000 trucks from all over Canada and even some from the United States. However, the validity of those claims has been thrown into question.

The truth, as I’ve been screamed at by strangers to report today, is by my estimate, tens of thousands of people have descended on Vaughan Mills to support the “freedom convoy.” There’s thousands of cars & SUVs here but you’d be hard pressed to find 100 trucks," reports Adrian Ghobrial for City News, who is covering the convoy.

Ghobrial reports in a series of tweets he sees a lot of support for the convoy but the convoy itself was sporadic and broken.

The beginning of the “freedom convoy” has just passed through Port Hope. The truckers, as best we can tell, are driving in multiple groups and they’re running behind schedule," Ghobrial reports.

The chief global correspondent for Global News, David Akin, shared statistics from the Ontario Provincial Police which say only 113 trucks were recorded coming from Winnipeg, Manitoba into Thunder Bay, Ontario in the "convoy".

In a statement, the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) says it "does not support and strongly disapproves" of any protests held on public highways, roadways, and bridges. CTA also says the "vast majority" of Canada's trucking industry is vaccinated and most of them are busy working, freighting shipments between Canada and the United States, countering the idea 50,000 trucks formed a convoy anywhere in the country.

The Government of Canada and the United States have now made being vaccinated a requirement to cross the border. This regulation is not changing so, as an industry, we must adapt and comply with this mandate,” says CTA president Stephen Laskowski in the statement. “The only way to cross the border, in a commercial truck or any other vehicle, is to get vaccinated.

It is also difficult to get an "official count" of participating vehicles, as some trucks reportedly only joined the convoy for a part of the journey, and many participants were in cars and other smaller vehicles instead of trucks.

If there isn't an "official count", it's unlikely Guinness World Records will recognize or award the "Freedom Convoy" with any official recognition.